The Iranian regime’s efforts to demonize and wage psychological warfare against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) are well-known. However, what has cause alarm and concern is the exposure of a network of so-called policy experts with clear ties to the mullahs’ regime, who have managed to infiltrated government and decision-making circles in the United States and Germany.
The main members of this network in the United States are Ariane Tabatabai, who holds a position at the U.S. Department of Defense, Dina Esfandiari, an advisor to the International Crisis Group think tank, and Ali Vaez, another ICG staff and a close confidant of Robert Malley, the currently suspended Iran envoy of U.S. president Joe Biden. All three individuals have been members of a group called “Iran Experts Initiative” at some point. All three have been pushing the Iranian regime’s talking points and policies in different ways in their circles of influence. But what they share in common is their anti-PMOI rhetoric and their efforts to discredit the main opposition to Iran’s regime.
On August 22, 2014, Ariane Tabatabai wrote an article in National Interest titled “Beware of the PMOI/MEK” in which she rehashed the regime’s allegations against the Iranian Resistance. More importantly, she claimed that if the PMOI comes to power, they will continue their nuclear program, from which she concluded that the West should continue negotiating with the mullahs’ regime.
Dina Esfandiari, another member of this infiltrative network, has repeatedly targeted the PMOI and supporters of Iranian resistance in her tweets and articles. For example, in a tweet dated November 1, 2021, she wrote: “If there is one thing that Iranians everywhere, inside and out, agree on… is that the MEK is NOT an alternative.”
In retweeting another so-called Iran agent on September 21, 2012, Dina Esfandiari wrote: ” Perhaps the only popularity contest that the Gov. of #Iran can win is when its alternative is #MEK.”
Another individual in this network is Ali Vaez. According to media reports, he has been writing articles defending the clerical regime of Iran under the banner of the “Iran Experts Initiative” in major American newspapers since the inception of his media activities. Vaez, as an advisor to Malley, was a special envoy for the United States in nuclear negotiations.
The main element of the regime’s infiltrative network in Germany is a person named Adnan Tabatabai. According to a report from the German newspaper Bild on September 27, 2023, he is a German-Iranian individual who has been present in the media in recent years to defend and whitewash the regime. His project, called “CARPO,” was recently financially supported by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a funding of 900,000 euros.
In comments to Foreign Policy on April 30, 2018, Tabatabai said, “[PMOI] is a group that sided with the adversary during the most traumatic event in recent Iranian history.”
On December 20, 2018, Adnan Tabatabai, lashed out at U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton for supporting Albania’s decision to expel the Iranian regime’s ambassador for carrying out terror plots. Tabatabai tweeted: “ This is beyond ridiculous. #Albania hosts the terrorist cult #MKO/#MEK which #Bolton has declared its favourite #Iran|ian “dissident” group.”
Tabatabai has whole array of comments and tweets rehashing the regime’s allegations against the PMOI, referring to the main Iranian opposition as “terrorists” and “cult” and “more hated that al-Qaeda and ISIS,” and using vulgar terms against politicians who stand with the Iranian resistance.
Looking at the articles and content of this network, it can be inferred that one of its missions is to mislead Western policymakers and the general public. This network intends to create the perception that if the clerical regime in Iran is overthrown, chaos and turmoil will ensue. They then suggest that the alternative government that comes to power would be worse and more dangerous than the current regime.
The political objective and purpose of this organized enmity against the PMOI is nothing but the preservation of the current regime, the elimination of resistance, and paving the way to quell popular uprisings.
These disgraceful missions are carried out at great cost using plundered funds from the people of Iran and sometimes from the pockets of taxpayers in western countries. This regime is an enemy to the oppressed people of Iran, contrary to the interests of regional nations, and the main supporter of terrorism in the world today. Its agents, covert and overt, should be expelled from any policy circles.